Passé composé: avoir/être + past participle (first steps)

The Passé Composé — French’s Most Useful Past Tense

French has many ways to talk about the past, but the passé composé is by far the most practical and commonly used.

It’s the go-to tense for talking about completed actions, and learning it lets you describe what happened in the past clearly and naturally.

The Big Idea: A “Double” Past Tense

The passé composé is a two-part tense:

Auxiliary (avoir or être) + past participle

Think of it as a helper verb + main action.

Step 1: The Auxiliary Verb

Most verbs use avoir as the auxiliary. A few use être (we’ll explore these later).

Here’s a quick reminder of the present tense of the auxiliaries:

Avoir → to have

Être → to be

Step 2: The Past Participle

Add the past participle of the main verb:

• -er verbs → replace -er with -é (parler → parlé)
• -ir verbs → replace -ir with -i (finir → fini)
• -re verbs → replace -re with -u (vendre → vendu)

Putting It Together

Combine the auxiliary in present + past participle:

• Je ai mangé → J’ai mangé → I ate / I have eaten
• Tu as fini → You finished / You have finished
• Il a vendu → He sold / He has sold

Notice: the auxiliary is conjugated, the past participle stays the same.